Presentation Skills

While hard work & good ideas are essential for success, ability to express those ideas clearly and effectively to others is equally important. Today, presentation skills are required in almost every field. Most of us have to

deliver presentations on occasions like

• Annual presentation of reports
• Launching a new product or service
• Starting a training course/session
• Presenting a new business plan
• Presenting a marketing/sales proposal
• Contribution to a conference/ seminar
• Diversification of a business.
• Demonstration of a new technique of work, equipment, machinery

A presentation can also be used as a broad term that encompasses other ‘speaking engagements’ such as making a speech at a wedding or getting a point across in a video conference. A presentation requires you to get a

message across to the listeners and will often contain a 'persuasive' element.

“Persuasion is the art for which all business presenters must be prepared”

Objectives of Presentation

• To inform: To create an understanding of facts
• To persuade: To influence the audience to get the desired actions and results
• To build up good will: To generate good will about organization and products
• To simplify: To simplify the complicated topic for better understanding
• To demonstrate: To show the way of operating or functioning
• To share innovative observations : To share new research, products or practices

Techniques of Presentation

Based on the purpose of the presentation, each presentation requires a specific technique to ensure they are understood & remembered by the audience. For Instance

a) Sales /Persuasive

Purpose - To convince the audience

• Seize attention in the beginning

• Create a desire

• Tell them how they can save time, make money or reduce effort

• Close with a call to action by asking for an order

• Provide logic, facts and emotions to sway them to your proposal

b) Informative

Purpose - To inform good or bad news and ensure there are no

• reduced concerns
• Keep them Brief and to the point
• Stick to the facts
• Avoid complicated information
• Largely used to inform stakeholders, community and employees

c) Training / Instructional

Purpose - To train or instruct employees on a new skill

• Give specific directions
• Cover the “how to” steps and list benefits which they will get by learning the new skill like working faster, reducing stress and effort etc.
• Have them practice the skill
• Provide the opportunity to ask questions

d) Decision Making/ problem solving

Purpose - To make people think about a problem or situation and take a decision

• Share the need to solve
• Gain attention with a story that illustrates the problem
• Present suggestions and arguments
• Call the audience to help solve the problem
• Tell them what to do & how to do it

 Presentation steps

There are a number of aspects that you need to be considered  when preparing a presentation. They include the aim of the presentation, the subject matter, the audience, the venue or place, the time of day, and the length of  the talk.

All these will affect what you say and how you say it as well as the audio visuals you will use.

In a nut shell presentation has three main parts: Presenter , Content and Delivery.

1) Presenter 

a) Introduction 

• Introduce yourself and your role for instance 
• Speaker
• Trainer 
• Consultant 
• Middle management member
• Management member 
• Paper Presenter 

b) Why is this Important 

• To build up a quick rapport with audience 
• To explain the purpose of presentation 
• To explain the benefits for the audience 

c) What makes a great Presenter? 

• Competence 
• Character 
•  Composure 
• Sociability 
• Interpersonal Communication 
• Professionalism 

d)what makes a great Presentation? 

A great presentation is prepared by a methodical planning of content, design and delivery.

 Steps to Prepare Content

What is the most important message that you want your audience to receive?

• Inform

• Teach

• Solicit input

• Persuade

• Inspire or motivate

• Stimulate thought

Identify your Audience

• How many of them are there?

• Why are they there?

• What is their present knowledge or the subject or presentation?

• What is their possible attitude about you, your topic, being

your audience? 

Decide Objective of Presentation

 At the end of my country report presentation, the audience will ----

• Understand how we do our statistical work and the work I do”

• At the end of my demonstration survey report presentation, the audience will----

• Appreciate why the survey methodology and sample design

applied in the conduct of the survey.

• To illustrate the conclusions and recommendation are

consistent with the main findings of the survey

Converting your Information in to an Outline

• Determine the outline style

• Group your raw data

• Arrange into outline format

• Use of audio-visual aids

Outline Style –presentation model: 

Some outline styles are as follows

• Chronological- Shows events in order as they occurred

• NarrativeTakes the audience on a journey through a flowing presentation

• Problem solutionStates the problem, solution and summary

• Cause n EffectsStates the causes and explains the effects

• TopicalDivides the general topics into several subtopics

• Journalistic Questions-Questions like what, who, where, when 

Steps to design presentation

Content or body of presentation

• Structure the content in line with the audience’s needs

• What do you want to tell the audience?

• What is your objective?

• Prepare keeping in mind the time allotted

• Anticipate the questions and prepare

• Collect material from a variety of sources

• Arrange points logically and sequentially

• Prepare handouts as well

 Audio-visual aids

• PPT

• CD or DVD

• Graphs

• Handouts

Use appropriate font sizes and type

• Don’t use serif fonts (like Times New Roman)

• Do use sans serif fonts (like Arial) or Tahoma

Use Color Sparingly

• Use high-contrast colors

 PPT Slide design

• No more than 6 lines

• No more than 7 words per line

Use the “Power” of PowerPoint

• Adjust

• Alignment

• Spacing appropriately

• Proof-read your slides

• Don’t just copy formulas and equations from your work(dissertation, paper, etc.)

Structuring the presentation

• 2 to 2.5 mins---opening/beginning

• 20 to 21 mins--- middle section

• 2 to 3 mins --- closing/end

• 5 mins --- questions

How many slides?

• Give two-minutes for presenting a ‘full’ slide

• Arithmetic:

– 10-minute presentation = not more than 5 slides

– 15-minute presentation = not more than 7 slides

– 20-minute presentation = not more than 10 slides

c) Delivery of Presentation

Read the audience

 Wavelength, Present subject knowledge, age, attitude

• What is the audience’s interest?

• What does the audience want?

• What does the audience already know and needs to know?

• What are their needs, expectations from this presentation?

• How will the audience benefit from this presentation?

Styles of Delivery

Choose a style of delivery suitable for your role and presentation

type as mentioned below

• Reading the text

• Memorizing the text

• Speaking extemporaneously

• Speaking impromptu or instantly 

“Give the audience only what they need to know”

d) Audio-visual aids

• Visual aids should be on the speaker’s left.
• Have your files accessible -Floppy-CD-Net 
• Load files before class begins-verify file functionality
• Give your audience something to take away
• Give the audience time to see the slide
•  Talk about what’s on the slide.
• Do not read text on slides word for word
• Do not face the screen and turn your back to the audience when
• pointing to slides
• Do not rely on slides completely
• What do you do when there is no electrical power or when bulb of
• projector unexpectedly burns out?
• Uses of Handouts-- Handouts are the place for detailed tables, organizational charts, explanations.

e) Dealing with Podium Panic

• Audience is forgiving
•  Nervousness is usually invisible
• Be yourself
• Practice deep breathing or visualization techniques
• Begin in your comfort zone
•  Check out the room in advance
• Concentrate on the message
• Begin with a slow, well prepared introduction and have a
• confident and clear conclusion
• Be prepared and practice a lot 

f) Non verbal Communication

• Formal Posture, gestures and eye Contact
• Formal Dressing, accessories

g) Eye Contact with audience

• Never let them out of your sight.
• Looking them in the eye makes them feel that they are influencing what you say.
• Eye contact allows the presentation to approximate conversation— the audience feels much more involved.

g) verbal Communication

Don’t s

• Speaking too fast
• Using jargon
• Tone and content
• Complicated or ambiguous language
• Not questioning
• Not considering Physical State of the audience
• Being monotonous

h) Effective Delivery

• Be active - move
• Be purposeful - controlled gestures
• Variations – vocal (pitch, volume, rate)
• Be natural
• Be direct – don’t just talk in front of the audience talk to the audience 

i) Questions & Answers

This part is the beginning of a whole new interactive session and needs to be handled methodically.

• Opportunity to make a point
• Most presentations are won or lost here
•  Rehearse
• Don’t rank questions
• Keep answers brief
• Be honest—don’t bluff
• Avoid negative words
• Do not get confused
• You are not supposed to know everything
• Anticipate and keep answers ready
• Sometime questions themselves give you a lead to highlight your point of view

Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has

finished listening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnIPpUiTcRc&t=23s